Denver Broncos should keep Jadeveon Clowney on speed dial

The Denver Broncos should keep Jadeveon Clowney on speed dial.

Not to overreact to Denver Broncos outside linebacker Bradley Chubb having ice on his knee at the team’s stadium practice, but the team should have former number one pick Jadeveon Clowney on speed dial.

Head coach Vic Fangio talked after the practice at the stadium about Chubb simply taking precaution with the knee, and said he didn’t feel ‘right’ out there.

That certainly will get your heartbeat racing a little bit, and the idea of going through a whole season without Chubb or even a large chunk of the season is not appealing whatsoever.

The Broncos have a capable backup in Jeremiah Attaochu, but if there’s any question about Chubb’s status heading into the season, Attaochu is not the best option the Broncos could find — Clowney is.

Clowney was the first overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft out of South Carolina, and while he’s been a really solid NFL player since then he hasn’t quite developed into the elite superstar everyone thought he was going to be.

Injuries have played into that, but Clowney is still an extremely valuable and talented edge defender who had 42 quarterback hits and 18.5 sacks from 2017-18 with the Houston Texans.

Last year with the Seattle Seahawks, Clowney played in just 13 games and had only three sacks. He remains unsigned in free agency despite his immense talent because he obviously values himself very highly as a young edge defender with plenty of production, but NFL teams look at the injury history and the fact that he doesn’t have any double-digit sack seasons as a sign of caution when thinking of handing out a contract worth nearly $20 million annually.

The Broncos obviously can’t afford to pay Clowney $20 million as insurance for Bradley Chubb, and while there’s certainly no ‘good’ time for an injury, the fact that Chubb is experiencing this not feeling ‘right’ now is advantageous for the Broncos given Clowney’s availability.

There’s no question the best-case scenario for the Denver Broncos is that Bradley Chubb is good to go to open the season and there are no questions about his health, but if the price has gone down enough on Clowney even just for a one-year contract, it’s in the Broncos’ best interests to have the best player on the radar, at the very least.